- Visa buys the Plaid financial platform to compete with Stellar Lumens and Ripple
- The deal cost twice of Plaid’s worth at $5.3 billion
- The acquisition will improve cross-border payments
Stellar Lumens news today – global payments processor Visa has reportedly completed a deal that will ensure the improvement of cross-border payments. The company has reportedly acquired the Plaid financial platform in a $5.3 billion deal. Plaid is a data network that makes tools that ensure that people can connect and exchange any type of financial information on applications and services like Venmo, Abra Wallet, Coinbase, and Transferwise.
With Plaid, users can manage their saving and spending habits. Plaid has been operational since 2013. It was founded by Zach Perret and William Hockey and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
A Match Made in Heaven
Recall that Visa had previously promised to expand the level of its operations and enter into new waters. The firm also intended to expand its profile and enter into markets. Now it has moved to acquire Plaid. This acquisition might just be exactly what Visa needs to fulfill its lofty ambitions. The decision to merge with Plaid can boost the payment processing capabilities of Visa’s customers. It is also expected to serve the entity’s current and new clients better.
The scheme will expand Visa’s desirability and the scope of its services to users. When reached for comments, the CEO of Visa, AI Kelly said this about the acquisition of Plaid:
“Plaid is one of the leading entities in the ever-growing fintech sector with high talent and capabilities. This acquisition, added with to our many fintech efforts underway, will place Visa in a good position to deliver more value for financial institutions, developers, and consumers.”
Visa May have Toppled Ripple, and Stellar with its New Acquisition
It is well known that the demand for rapid cross-border/international payment services is very high. Hence, this recent acquisition will allow Visa to meet this demand better. It may come as bad news for other providers like Stellar and Ripple. Ripple reportedly has 300 partners around the globe currently, with some of their partners long-standing heavyweight financial institutions. Ripple’s expectations remain bullish for now as the network expects to do some serious business this year.
Stellar Lumens, on the other hand, has a huge share of the payment sector which might make it envious of Visa’s recent acquisition of Plaid. Obviously, the network would be plotting a counter-attack. Recently, Stellar partnered with Thai tech-based firm Lightnet. Lightnet is an ambitious firm seeking to overtake SWIFT and be crowned the number one international payment system. Lightnet has since realized a whopping $31.2 million in VC which will be used to create a software solution based on Blockchain used by Stellar Lumens.
Princess Ogono is a writer, lawyer and fitness enthusiast. She believes cryptocurrencies are the future. When she's not writing, she spends time with her adorable cat, Ginger and works out often.
